Iraq - IOM Iraq on Sunday (7/9) joined a relief convoy bringing emergency supplies from Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to the formerly besieged town of Amerli.

IOM delivered 1,000 kits of non-food items to internally displaced people in the town, which is between Baghdad and Kirkuk. The convoy carried humanitarian aid provided by UNICEF, WFP and UNFPA.

Last week, Iraqi Kurdish fighters, Shiite militias and the US military joined forces to recover Amerli from Islamic State (IS) fighters.  During the two-month siege, IS cut off supplies, including food, water and medicine to more than 15,000 people in the area.

The IOM emergency relief cargo included household supplies and hygiene items. As part of the emergency relief package, IOM also transported 2,000 collapsible water containers, donated by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). IOM also brought in three water filter units for a health clinic.

“The USAID water containers being distributed to families in Amerli are just one part of the 60 metric tons of relief supplies we recently airlifted to Erbil for distribution by IOM,” said Al Dwyer, USAID’s Disaster Assistance Response Team Leader in Iraq.  “The remainder of the USAID supplies, including much-needed winterization materials, is being prepped by IOM for distribution to some of the most conflict-affected areas in Iraq.”     

“The Amerli operation underlines the added value of prompt, coordinated action among humanitarian agencies, the UN and local authorities. Above all it illustrates our commitment to help these people who were in desperate need of life-saving aid in the aftermath of the siege,” says IOM Iraq Chief of Mission Thomas Lothar Weiss.

Through the first 8 months of 2014, over 1.7 million Iraqis have been displaced across Iraq, according to IOM’s latest Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM). 

The IOM report details the scope of Iraq’s internal chaos. Iraq’s Kurdistan region today holds 50 per cent of all displaced individuals – some 862,458 people. It identifies 1,634 specific locations where internally displaced persons are seeking aid, and what shelter and other aid is available to them.

For example, it notes that that all 650 schools in the northern city of Dahuk have now been converted into emergency shelters and that authorities have postponed the start of the school year there.

Among the donor nations funding the non-food relief that IOM is distributing are the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

For more information on IOM’s DTM, please go to www.iomiraq.net                          

For more information please contact

IOM Erbil

Susan Megy
Tel. +964 750 0166 072
Email: smegy@iom.int

or

Sandra Black
Tel. +964 750 0166 072
Email: sblack@iom.int